Automatic railroad-switch



J. H. WAIT. Automatic Railroad Switch.

Patented Jan. I3, 1880.

ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS, PHOTO-LITHDGRAPH UNITED STATES PATENT ()EEICE.

JOHN H. WAIT, OF OPELIKA, ALABAMA.

AUTOMATIC RAI LROAD-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 223,559, dated January 13, 1880.

Application filed November 28, 1877'.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J OHN H. WAIT, of Ope' lika, in the county of Lee and State of Ala-- bama, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Railway-Switches, of which the following is a specification.

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved switch. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a truck carrying a switch-operating device. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on line 00 at in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the track-locking device. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the switchlock. Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken on line y y in Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a cross-section of the weighted lever.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The object of my invention is to construct a railway-switch that may be operated by the wheels of the passing locomotive, or by means of levers-attached to the locomotive or one of the car-trucks.

The invention consists in a combination of pivoted rails, levers, and lockin g devices, which are hereinafter fully explained.

In the drawings, A B (l D are maintrack rails. E E are switch-rails, pivoted to the ties at a, and connected together by arod, b, in the usual way. F Gr are terminal rails of the side track, or branch.

The rail 0 of the main track and the rail G of the branch track are pivoted to the tie H at o 0, and are connected at their free ends by a tie-rod, d, which holds them parallel to each other.

Iis a shaft journaled in supports J K, which are placed at the side of the track opposite the switch-rail E. Upon the end of the shaft I a lever-arm, e, is placed, which is connected with the free end of the pivoted rail G by the rod f, which runs under the rail D, and is bent twice at right angles and passes through a hole in the rail G from the inside, and is sever L, and extends through a hole in the rail E, near that through which the rod 9 passes,

and is provided with a head which prevents This it from being drawn through the rail. rod is curved so that the arm I may be thrown into a horizontal position, asshown in Fig. 4.

equal to about one-fourth of the circumference of the disk, and are placed in the same relation to the shaft 1 as the arms of the lever L. Between the disk M and the support J a three-armed lever, N, is placed loosely on the shaft I. The shorter arms 0 p of this lever are arranged at right angles to each other, and form, with the longer arm, q, an angle of one hundred and thirty-five degrees. The longer arm, q, is beveled on each of its edges, being widest on the side lying against the disk, and it carries at its outerend a weight, r.

In the inner face of the disk M'there are two conical cavities, s, for receiving the conical end of the bolt t, which is placed in a transverse hole drilled in the support J. A portion of this bolt is reduced in size, forming a shoulder, against which a spring, a, presses, which abuts upon a plate, 21, through which the smaller end of the bolt extends.

The bolt t is headed upon the outer face of the plate 2), so that when the plate is turned in the recess a in the support J, in which it is placed and withdrawn by means of the loop or handle w, the bolt is removed from the cavity in the disk M.

When the plate '1) is placed in. the recess a and turned so that the end having in it the aperture 1) projects through a lateral opening, 0, in the support J, a padlock may be placed in the aperture 11, when the bolt cannot be withdrawn by hand. i

There is an arc-shaped slot, 01, in the disk M, for receiving a bolt, 0, that passes through the forked end of the connecting-rod f, which is placed between the arms 019 of the lever N and embraces the disk M. The opposite end of the rod is connected with a piece, N, which is pivoted between the track-rails to one of the ties.

The piece N is placed wholly upon one side of the track-center, and is nearest the rails A E, and to its upper surface a wedge-shaped piece, 0, is secured, having its point lying in the direction of the pivot of the piece N.

Upon the support K there is a standard, P, having journal-boxes for receiving the vertical shaft Q. To thelower end of this shaft a slotted arm, g, is secured, which is moved by a pin projecting from the rod f. To the upper end of the shaft Qa signal-disk, h, is secured. The pilot-wheels of the locomotive, or the forward truck in the train, carries a lever, B, having the long arm t" and the short arms j k. To the longer arm '5 a bar, 1, having notches m a 0. is connected. The notches in this bar engage a standard, 1), on the truck. The

arm j is separated a short distance from the long arm 2', and to the short arm is a toe, q,

is jointed.

Below the lever B there is an arm, 8, which supports the toe when the arm 1" is thrown backward, and folds it when the long arm of by the drawings, it will be observed that thepivoted terminal rail G of the branch and the fixed rail F are arranged con'vergingly in re lation to each other, and that their disconnected ends are nearer together than the trackgage by a distance equal to the space through which the switch-rails are moved, and that a truck of any sort having wheels with inside flanges must move the pivoted rail G laterally as it passes over it and the rail F. This lat eral motion is transmitted to the arm 0 on the shaft 1 through the rod f. The shaft I being turned in this manner, the arms ilof the lever L are thrown over toward the switch-rail E, carrying the rods 9 7c forward through the holes in the rails until the collar it strikes the rail E causing it to move toward the rail G, and moving the rail E, with which it is connected, toward the rail F. The. lug n on the disk M at the same time raises the weighted arin q. Owing to the conical form of the end of the bolt t and of the cavity s in the disk, the bolt is thrown back against the spring a as the disk turns, and as the beveled edge of the arm q comes into contact with the conical end of the bolt the bolt is thrown still farther back, and the said arm passes it.

When the weight r passes the shaft I it falls toward the switch-rail E, and the short arm. 0 engages the eye of the connecting-rod f, through which the bolt 6 passes, thereby moving the pivoted piece N toward the rail E, so that it will be in position to be engaged by the switch-operating device carried by the engine or one of the cars approaching in the opposite direction.

The locking of the switchmails is effected by bringing the rod g, arm 11, and shaft I into inserted in the aperture of the said arm, locks through the opening 0, and a padlock being 7 it so that the switch cannot be moved by hand,

except by removing the padlock from the plate 12 and turning and withdrawing the plate from the recess a. may be moved by hand, so as to operate the switch.

When the switch has been moved, as just described, the rails O G are in the position indicated by dotted lines, and the switch-rail E is opposite the rail F, and the rail E is opposite the rail G, as indicated by dotted lines.

When the engine approaches on the main line and the switch-rails E E are opposite the branch rails, the flanges of the wheels engage the rail 0, thereby moving all of the parts of the switching apparatus in the direc tion opposite to that just described, bringing the switch into line with the main-track rails, as shown in full lines in the drawings. The signal-disk h is turned in the manner before described whenever the switch is shifted, so as to indicate in the usual way the position of the switch.

When the engine approaches the switch on the rails A B, and it is desired to run upon the branch, the toe q is thrown down by moving the lever B by means of the bar Z, and locking it by placing the notch m on the standard 1). As the engine passes the pivoted piece N the toe q strikes the side of the wedge O and moves the piece N toward the rail E. This results in turning the disk M by means of the connecting-rod j" and operating the switch in the same manner as it is operated by the rod f,- and when the switch is to be moved in the opposite direction by the apparatus carried by the engine the arm j of the lever B is thrown down into the position shown in Fig. 2, and is retained by placing the notch 0 on the standard 1). The arm j now engages the wedge O by moving along the edge opposite that engaged by the toe q when the switchrails are thrown into line with the main track, as shown by full lines in the drawings. The switch-rails E E are locked in this position by the arm land rod k'falling into line with the shaft I, and by the spike a driven into the tie outside of the rail E.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of the shaft I, the crankarm 6, the rod f, the arms all of the rightangled lever L, and the rods 9 k with the pivoted rail 0 of the main track and the pivoted rail G of the branch, connected by the tie-rod When 'this is done the lever N and having the handle w and look-aperture b,

as herein shown and described.

4. The pivoted piece N, carrying the wedgeshaped piece 0, in combination with the disk M, lever e, and the double-armed lever L, as herein shown and described. I 5 5. The weighted lever N, having arms 0 p q, and the disk M, having lugs m n, in combination, as herein shown and described.

6. The lever B, pivoted in a truck, and having arms 6' lo, the toe q, and bar 8, in com- 20 bination as herein shown and described.

JNO. H. WAIT.

Witnesses:

R. M. GREENE, W. B. SHAPARD. 

